


Wrong Assumptions

by bonjourmarlene



Category: Little Mix (Band)
Genre: Cheating, F/F, F/M, Femslash Big Bang, fairytale, femslash big bang challenge, femslash big bang may challenge, femslash may challenge, may challenge, myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 05:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6942511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonjourmarlene/pseuds/bonjourmarlene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is one week before Perrie's wedding so her friends decide to take her on a sailing trip south of Málaga in Spain to have a last week together just as the three of them. During one of her swimming trips Perrie meets a gorgeous girl with grey hair and once her fear that she drowned wears off, she runs out of excuses why she keeps wanting to meet the girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wrong Assumptions

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This is my contribution to the Femslash Big Bang Challenge of May. In case anyone is not familiar with the Femslash Big Bang, it is a challenge (for everyone to themselves) to motivate themselves to write about a F/F shipping so we can all read a bit more of that - we all know there is a serious lack in lesbian fanfiction. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this story and if you do please leave some sort of feedback by leaving a comment or send me an ask or whatever on my tumblr (thirliewhirl.tumblr.com). Thanks so much for your patience now and enjoy the story!
> 
> M.A.

“I haven’t been out on the sea in forever,” Perrie smiled as the boat set sail, the waves softly rocking the ground underneath her feet. “Thanks for arranging all of this.”

“No problem,” Jesy laughed and sat down in one of the chairs on deck. “You’re getting married next week so who knows how often we will be able to do something again, just the three of us.”

Perrie bit her lip and turned around, her fingers wrapping around the rail and her bottom leaning against it comfortably. It was true that once she was married she would spend more time with her husband but she didn’t think it would be impossible for her to do less with her friends Jesy and Leigh-Anne. “It hasn’t changed for you since you’re married,” she replied and furrowed her brows.”

“Not yet,” Jesy agreed but then tapped her stomach. “But once this little one is out I’ll be glad when I can even sleep – my mum has warned me enough about motherhood that I already know I’ll be barely alive the first couple years.”

Leigh-Anne, just turning up on deck now, started laughing and sat down next to Jesy, stretching her arms and relishing in the warm afternoon sun. “Oh come on. It sounds like you’re not excited at all to be a mummy!”

“I am!” Jesy defended herself. “I mean, it’s crazy to think there’s something inside of me now. It’s not even visible yet that I’m pregnant but I know it’s there, like, it’s not kicking or moving or anything but you just _know_. It’s an incredible feeling – and I’m certain Jake will be an amazing dad as well. But you gotta admit, motherhood is a scary thought.”

Leigh couldn’t do anything but nod – she was the only one out of the bunch who was still single but she didn’t mind in the slightest. She loved partying and she was an incredibly successful fashion designer so as Perrie’s Maid of Honour she had arranged this little one-week boat trip not too far from the coast of Málaga in Spain. At first Perrie had protested about the costs but eventually Leigh, together with Jesy, had convinced her that she deserved it.

The thing was, Perrie had gone sailing a lot with her father when she had been a kid but after his death when she was twelve her mother had refused to drive to the sea anymore, reminded of her husband with every wave of water. Perrie had understood and accepted it but she hadn’t realised how much she had missed the sea until she had come back again.

“Thank you again,” the blonde told her friend and then looked down at the diamond studded ring on her finger. It wasn’t too much, just like she had wanted but her fiancé had insisted on adding a little gem to the ring, wanting to prove to her once again that he had more than enough money. She guessed she was lucky in that way, to have a husband with great wealth but she wished he was home more. Obviously she missed him dearly when he was gone on one of his business trips but she understood that his work was important. He was the CEO of his own company so of course he couldn’t just drop everything for a woman.

“Don’t mention it,” Leigh waved her off and then got off her chair, walking towards the rail next to Perrie. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself! The fridges are all stuffed to the top, we got probably ten galleons of champagne, loads of chocolate and strawberries and other food.”

The blonde laughed and shook her head, “You know my dress is already done and I can’t do any alterations to it before the wedding? I need to be able to fit in it by the end of this week.”

***

When Perrie woke up the next morning in her bed, the soft swaying of the boat reminding her immediately why her fiancé wasn’t lying next to her, she noticed it was still early. The sky outside was a soft mix of grey and blue, indicating the sun hadn’t even started rising properly yet but somehow she couldn’t make herself go to sleep anymore.

Not wanting to wake Jesy and Leigh she grabbed her bikini from her bedside table and went to the bathroom to get changed before she walked out on deck. Silently she thanked God that it was already warm outside when she stepped out and let down the ladder from the side of the boat – they weren’t moving as long as they were asleep so they could keep track of where they were and they had triple checked that the anchor was set before they went to their bedroom.

The water was colder than expected at first but after about ten seconds of gasping for air with only her head poking out from the water she got used to it and let herself relax a little. God, she really had missed going swimming and sailing.

She moved away a bit from the sail boat so she could dive and swim around however she pleased and when the sky turned from a lifeless grey into a mixture of pink and orange she swam towards a bunch of boulders. Setting her hands on the stone she pushed the rest of her body out of the water and twister it around, managing to place her bottom on a relatively flat piece of stone.

For a while she looked towards the boat – she was still within visible distance so Jesy and Leigh wouldn’t have to worry when they woke up and noticed that Perrie was gone. Then she let her eyes wander around. One thing she loved about being out on the sea was the endlessness of the universe she felt here. She knew they weren’t too far away but they were far enough from the coast so that they couldn’t see land anymore anywhere. Maybe it should be a scary thing but to Perrie it just showed how small they were on a such a giant plant but then she was reminded of how small the earth was in comparison to other planets in the milky way and then how small the milky way was in comparison to the entirety of all galaxies. It was incredible.

She got up and walked around on the boulders for a while, letting the low morning sun dry her wet skin a little bit when she stopped in her tracks, noticing a person sitting on the boulder as well, her back turned to Perrie.

“Hello,” she said in a friendly tone and raised her hand as the stranger turned around with a shocked face.

The girl was definitely beautiful – even before she had turned around Perrie had seen her beautiful grey hair that was still wet and the skin on her back, visibly tanned. But her face intensified her gorgeous looks to a maximum; she was wearing blue lipstick and, to Perrie’s surprise, had such long and dark lashes that it was impossible that she wasn’t wearing any mascara, but her lashes weren’t sticking together nor seemed the mascara to come off. Oil-based lipstick and water-proof mascara, she assumed. Her eyes were a mix of brown and green and to Perrie it seemed as if there was a thin film of water covering the eyeballs.

She had a black tattoo on her shoulder, lines that Perrie couldn’t make out but they looked like characters in a foreign language, although she couldn’t put them to any language she knew. Her chest was bare but she didn’t seem to make any attempts to cover herself up, probably careless about the fact that she was showing her breasts to a stranger – but Perrie didn’t feel bothered, if she was being honest. She wasn’t wearing too much herself anyway.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just didn’t expect anyone to be here.”

The grey haired girl didn’t say anything but turned away quickly again and used her hands to push herself forward into the water again – Perrie was too far away to stop her and frowned when the woman disappeared underwater, out of her sight. She waited a few moments; the other girl surely had to come back out after a while but when half a minute passed, Perrie started to feel slightly anxious and walked closer to where the woman had disappeared. The spot where she had been sitting was still wet and Perrie stepped onto that spot directly, looking down into the water but she couldn’t make anything out as suddenly a call for her name caused her to spin around.

Jesy was standing at the rail and waving at her. “Come have breakfast with us!” She called as loud as she could but for Perrie it sounded like barely a whisper due to the distance. With one last glance down the water behind her she sighed and then jumped into the water at the spot where she had come onto the boulder and swam back to the boat, climbing up the ladder.

“Isn’t it cold?” Leigh asked her as she handed her a towel and frowned with a shake of her head. “It doesn’t even feel too warm outside yet.”

“It’s alright,” Perrie replied with a shrug but wrapped herself into the towel nonetheless. She turned around and looked at the set of boulders again while furrowing her brows. Just as she was about to mention the girl she was ushered towards the other side of the ship and sat down on a chair as Jesy and Leigh busily prepared everything for breakfast.

***

“I think I’m gonna head to bed,” Leigh replied and set down her champagne glass. She felt her vision swimming already (she probably had more than both Jesy and Perrie together but damn, did she love champagne) so it was the best to stop it there and call it a night.

Jesy nodded and ended her own glass with one big gulp. “I’m coming with you.”

“I’m gonna go for another swim,” Perrie told them and took their glasses to put them away. “Don’t worry, I won’t be too long but it’s so hot and I need to cool myself down a bit before I go to sleep.” In all honesty, she wanted to know whether the girl was alright and although she doubted that she would still be anywhere near the boulders this was the only place that she could think of in connection with her. She was scared that she had witnessed a person drowning and didn’t mention anything to Jesy and Leigh-Anne all day but after breakfast there had just never been a good moment to bring it up.

Her friends walked towards the bedroom and Perrie took off her top and shorts that she had put on over her bikini once it had dried enough and then she let down the ladder again, swimming towards the set of stones not too far from the boat.

It was dark by now, probably after midnight even and Perrie had had about four hours of sleep the last night but she felt more awake in this moment than she had felt all day. It was probably the heat that had made her tired and now that she was in the water, she felt better immediately.

Now that she was thinking about it she wasn’t even sure anymore if the girl she had seen hadn’t been a part of her imagination – but what on earth had she taken that she had imagined something so vividly and realistically? What was going on in her head that her head had made something like this up?

“You’re back,” a voice said and Perrie blinked heavily in the darkness. The voice was filled with a strong accent but Perrie noticed immediately that it wasn’t Spanish but what it was, she didn’t have a clue.

First she only saw a silhouette in the moonlight – it was barely crescent moon so it was quite dark without any lights. But the more she looked the more features she noticed; the grey hair, the blue lipstick, the long lashes and the tattoo on the left shoulder. “I didn’t think you’d come back.”

“I was worried you had drowned.”

“Drowned? I have never heard this word before.”

Perrie frowned. “It’s when you stay underwater too long and you run out of air to breathe.”

The girl giggled although Perrie didn’t understand why. She was sitting again but Perrie couldn’t really noticed anything else, as she was sitting with her back turned to her once more; she had turned her head around again though and was looking at the blonde intently. “No, I didn’t drown. I can stay underwater for quite a while, actually.”

The blonde didn’t know what to say and shifted her weight uncomfortably a couple of times before she nodded. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Why did you worry about me, though? You don’t know who I am.”

Again Perrie couldn’t help but frown. “That doesn’t mean I want you to die.”

“Thanks for your concern.”

Perrie nodded. “You’re welcome.”

The grey haired girl turned her head away again and looked out onto the sea. “What’s your name?” She asked quietly, almost as if it was a question she wasn’t supposed to answer.

“Perrie.”

The grey haired girl turned to her once more with a smile on her face and Perrie noticed the sharpness of her canine teeth. “What a beautifully unusual name. I’m Jade.”

“Jade. Nice to meet you.”

The girl, Jade, then turned around and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not so sure if you were to say that if you knew me a bit better. I probably shouldn’t be here – my parents would be very angry with me if they knew I was talking to you but they’d be nothing compared to my… well, that’s a story for another day.”

Perrie frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Why, because I’m English?”

She felt a little bit offended by the hearty laugh the stranger girl let out at that statement but she tried not to show it too much. “No, it has nothing to do with the country you are from.”

The blonde moved closer to Jade and pointed at a spot next to her on the stone. “Mind if I sit down?”

Suddenly Jade seemed uncomfortable and looked at her nervously. “Um, yeah, course you can sit down.” But as Perrie drew closer she pushed herself in the water again but this time she stayed over water with the upper half of her body. For a second Perrie was distracted by her bare chest again but forced herself to look into Jade’s face only as she sat down. She was trying not to be judgemental because everyone could do as they pleased but she just wasn’t used to see boobs all the time – even with Jesy and Leigh-Anne; the three of them always wore a bikini or a bra when it was just them as well.

“How old are you, Perrie?”

“Twenty-two years, and you?”

For a few moments Jade seemed to be counting and then told her, “I am twenty-three years old.”

“Did you forget how old you are?” Perrie asked and tried not to laugh.

Jade grinned and Perrie couldn’t hide her smile anymore either now. “Yeah, sometimes I tend to forget the numbers in English.”

“Sorry,” the blonde replied sheepishly and felt guilty about assuming Jade didn’t know her own age.

But Jade just laughed and waved it off. “No, it happens. Everyone makes wrong assumptions – I, for one, assumed you wouldn’t be here if I turned up at night. I thought most humans needed more sleep.”

Perrie shrugged and was glad it was so dark that Jade could hopefully not see her blush. She couldn’t say twice that she had come back for her. It would sound wrong and Perrie was engaged, on top of everything, her marriage was in seven days. The fact that she felt the need to remind herself of this worried her a bit but she told herself it was what she would say to Jade if she was suspicious of Perrie’s intentions. “I assumed you wouldn’t be here either,” Perrie told her instead.

“That makes two wrong assumptions for you and only one for me.” She grinned brightly and her teeth were white enough to be shining in the dark. “I am obviously superior to you.”

Now it was Perrie’s turn to laugh and she shook her head. “We’ve barely met and you’re already so cheeky – you’re my kind of person.”

“Perrie!” A voice called and Perrie’s head snapped around towards the boat, where Jesy was standing at the rail. “You’ve been out for half an hour now! Come back before you catch a cold.”

“Time flies,” Perrie sighed and got up, looking down at Jade who was now pushing out her lower lip sadly. “Should we meet tomorrow again? I’ll come here as soon as I wake up.” Now Jade’s lips twitched upwards into a smile and she nodded. “See you tomorrow then,” Perrie said and hurried over the boulders back to the spot where she had gotten on and off earlier as well and jumped into the water, surprised by the coldness – how had Jade been so calm in the water without her teeth clattering the whole time?

Jesy handed her a towel when she reached the top of the ladder on the side of the boat. “You shouldn’t have needed to wait up for me, you should sleep if you’re tired.”

“I can’t sleep when one of my best friends is out there in the sea in the middle of the night. Leigh’s still awake as well and we agreed I should go check on you because she can barely walk.” Jesy giggled and handed Perrie her pyjamas. “Well, I’ll see you in the coach in a minute.” With that she walked off and Perrie looked back over to the boulders again before she got changed in one of the toilet stalls and then joined her friends for a good sleep.

***

Once again, Perrie woke up early, despite going to sleep so late. The sky was already tinted pink and orange but it was just rising and Perrie quickly changed into a new bathing suit before she told an awakening Jesy that she felt hot and wanted to get out onto the water again; she didn’t know why but for some reason she didn’t want to explain to Jesy that she had made a new friend. It would feel weird to explain that she had met a girl sitting on rocks.

She jumped straight in once she was out on deck and swam quicker to the stones than she had the day before, feeling like she had made the grey haired girl wait but she walked around for a few seconds and noticed that she wasn’t there – only for her head to pop up next to the rocks a few moments later. “I’ve been waiting for you,” Jade told her smiling. “Did you sleep well?”

Perrie nodded and sat down in front of Jade on the rocks. The grey haired girl didn’t seem to make any moves to sit up onto the rocks as well so Perrie decided to sit cross legged in front of her. “Yeah, thanks. I hope I didn’t make you wait too long?”

“It’s all good,” Jade smiled and Perrie had to admit that her accent was quite adorable, although she still wasn’t sure where she could it. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but where is your accent from?”

The grey haired girl cleared her throat and then replied while looking out onto the waves, “There’s a small island near Morocco.”

Perrie nodded; so she was African. Maybe her skin wasn’t tan, like Perrie had assumed but naturally darker although she wasn’t as dark as Leigh-Anne. Another wrong assumption on her side, apparently. “Are you here with your family?”

“Yeah, well, they’re not here exactly, obviously,” Jade laughed. “But they’re quite close, yes. My mum keeps asking me why I go for such long swims.”

“I think my friends are suspicious as well.”

Jade smiled at her and again Perrie couldn’t help but notice how extraordinary her teeth were. They were so much whiter and especially the canines were sharper than teeth that she had seen on other people before. Or maybe it was just that she barely knew anyone who wasn’t British besides Leigh-Anne. “So you’re not here with your family?”

“No, my dad died many years ago and my mother doesn’t like the sea anymore.”

“Why?” Jade asked with big eyes as if she had never such a statement before.

Perrie couldn’t help but giggle at her expression but it didn’t make her explanation less heavy either way and Jade’s expression quickly changed from shock to sorrow. “My condolences,” she told her quietly and drew patterns on the stone with her wet finger. The water shone brightly against the now risen sun and Perrie took a look back onto the boat but neither Jesy nor Leigh-Anne were out yet. She assumed that Leigh would probably sleep longer today and Jesy knew where she was anyway.

“It’s fine, I’m good now. And I’m here.”

Jade nodded her head and smiled again, something Perrie couldn’t help but feel proud of. For some reason she found Jade’s smile incredibly enchanting and to think that she was the reason for it made her heart flutter. She told herself it was pride she felt.

“The sun feels nice,” Jade told her and put her elbows on the stones but stayed in the water nonetheless. “I like swimming because you feel the heat of the sun and the coolness of the water.”

“I agree,” Perrie sighed happily and leaned back as well now, closing her eyes and just enjoying every bit of sun ray that she could collect. “It’s nice to feel warm every now and then – I don’t know if you’ve ever been to England but it’s bloody cold.”

Jade giggled and shook her head, “Never had a reason to go there before. It’s quite a distance from here to England, isn’t it?”

Perrie nodded her head. “Yeah but on an airplane it’s quite quick. Don’t know where we would be without flying now if we’d have to sail or, worse, walk the whole way. Probably Germany or something.”

“I have never been to Germany either – is it as cold as England?”

“I don’t know, actually,” Perrie replied and tilted her head to the side.

They sat together for a while until the blonde’s stomach started to grumble and she looked back at the boat where Jesy and Leigh were now sitting out on deck, talking vividly with a lot of gestures and they were having their breakfast now as well. “Would you like to join me and my friends for breakfast?” Perrie asked Jade.

The grey haired girl looked surprised for a moment but then considered before she shook her head. “No, I should probably get back to my family now anyway – they must be waiting for me. Can we meet again tonight?”

The blonde smiled happily and nodded energetically. “Sure, I’m looking forward to it.” With that she waved good bye to her new friend and then swam back to Leigh and Jesy, sitting down with them without explaining anything and just digging in.

***

Leigh and Jesy watched as Perrie dove into the water again, swimming straight to the set of boulders as she had done the previous days and looked at each other with a frown. “What on earth is she doing over there all the time?”

“Maybe she’s found something?” Jesy wondered curiously and squinted her eyes to see better but she didn’t have a perfect vision to begin with so it was a fruitless try to catch more than a blurry image of her blonde friend in the setting sun light.

Leigh leaned over the rail and squinted as well; she didn’t want to be too obvious but Perrie had already sat down at the other end of the rocks again and all they could see was her back, her hair pulled to one side. She wasn’t looking at her friends anymore and Leigh wondered if she even noticed how intently they were staring at her. “But what?” She wondered and shook her head.

Perrie, out of ear shot, was chatting away happily with Jade, who had been waiting for her already, drawing patterns on the stone again. This time she was sitting on the rocks herself as well but she had a wet towel wrapped around her body. “It got cold,” she had explained once Perrie sat down next to her.

It was insane to both of them how well they got along but Perrie couldn’t find a reason why it should be a bad thing – except that she caught herself turning the ring on her finger so that the diamond was hidden in her palm when she formed a fist. She wasn’t supposed to hide this, she wasn’t supposed to feel the need to hide this with anybody, ever. She loved her fiancé and she didn’t want to feel embarrassed about him in front of anybody. But the more she had thought about it during the day, while she hadn’t been with Jade, it wasn’t that she was embarrassed about him. She just… she just didn’t want her to know that she was engaged.

She wasn’t stupid. It was quite obvious that Jade liked her and although Perrie couldn’t tell for sure whether or not she _liked_ her or just liked her – it was always a little trickier with girls, she thought, but in the end she had settled for a guy that proved that he not only liked but loved her – but the thought that Jade could be romantically interested in her… it didn’t unsettle her as much as it should, considering she was fucking engaged.

Her marriage was only a few days away now and she had been looking forward to it, had sent invitations to everyone personally, had gone to pick out a dress with Leigh-Anne and Jesy, had gone through all the food options together with his mother (who had only just started liking her now) and now… she was second guessing everything. Because of a stupid grey haired girl that she had only met on a stupid rock.

“Jade…” Perrie interrupted the girl talking suddenly. If she was being honest she had no idea what Jade had been talking about as she had been so deep in thought. “I think, um. I think I probably shouldn’t come to see you anymore.”

The girl just stared at her for a few seconds and then looked down at the space between them. Their fingers were less than an inch apart from each other and if Perrie wanted to, she could have just shifted forward a little bit and entwine their fingers together. The fact that she seriously wanted to do this frightened her deeply.

“What did I do wrong? Did I say anything to offend you?”

Perrie shook her head quickly and looked down, cursing at herself for feeling tears sting at the back of her eyes. Why on earth did she feel like crying? She knew the girl for three bloody days, it shouldn’t be this hard to stay away from her – but when she looked up she knew that wasn’t why she was about to cry. It was the hurt in Jade’s voice and the hurt in her eyes, on her whole face. “You didn’t do anything wrong and that’s the problem.”

Jade frowned, of course not able to comprehend what Perrie was saying. But how could she?

“See, Jade… I don’t know how to say this.” They were both silent, the grey haired girl not knowing how she could save the situation and the blonde not knowing how to explain this without basically confessing her crush. There wasn’t even a crush, she told herself, because she was madly in love with her future husband. What she was doing here was ridiculous. “I – I… just forget it. I was being stupid.”

“No, please tell me,” the older girl murmured quietly. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”

Perrie sighed and instinctively reached out, putting her hand on Jade’s cheek. She couldn’t suppress the flutter in her stomach when the grey haired girl leaned into it and neither could she suppress the smile that spread on her face at the thought that Jade was yearning for her touch. “I don’t know, I think the heat today got to my head. I’m not used to the Spanish weather.”

Jade giggled and placed her hand atop of Perrie’s, which was still resting against her soft cheek. “I think you should get a good rest, then.” She bit her lip and was quiet for a few moments, her face so vulnerable that Perrie felt her gut twist with guilt. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

The blonde took a deep breath and then smiled, “Yeah, of course.”

“Good,” the grey haired girl smiled and all the fear was washed away from her face, relief flooding through both girls as they realised they would see each other again the following day. “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither,” Perrie giggled and now dropped her hand but Jade didn’t let go for a few more seconds before she took a deep breath and leaned back against the stones. “See you tomorrow, then.” With that the blonde was off again, walking back to the other side of the stones and jumping head first into the cool water and swimming back to the ship where Jesy and Leigh-Anne were still standing on deck and talking to each other.

Jesy, as always, handed her a towel so she could dry herself and looked at her with a frown. “So, what are you always doing over there?”

Perrie shrugged and smiled, feeling a lot lighter than she should. Her hand, which had been holding Jade’s face, felt like it was on fire and she should feel guilty but the only guilt she had felt was when she had caused Jade pain. “I don’t know, I like the view from there. Are you guys ready for bed?”

Her friends looked at each other for a moment before they shrugged and decided that it was too late to brood over this matter anymore today.

***

After another two days, day five on the sail boat now, Jesy decided that the “it’s a nice view” excuse didn’t do it for her anymore and she wanted to find out what on earth Perrie kept doing there, swimming there and sitting for what felt like an eternity as soon as the sun rose and once more when the other two girls felt like dying of exhaustion.

She didn’t want to pressure Perrie, though – the three of them had always told each other anything at their own pace and when they were willing to share whatever it was that they had held a secret from one another. This time, however, Perrie didn’t seem willing to share it at all and somehow it frustrated her.

“Why don’t you ask her?” Jesy nudged Leigh as they sat on deck and chewed on their breakfast – of course Perrie wasn’t with them. They knew she would end up hungry and come back eventually, as she had done the previous days.

The black girl pushed her sun glasses down a bit and looked at Jesy with raised brows. “No, because that sounds like I’m asking her because she owes me. Which she doesn’t.”

“I know,” the oldest of the three girls told her. “I know and I wasn’t implying that but maybe, I don’t know, it could make her tell us. I don’t want to spy on her or anything.”

“Then don’t.”

Jesy frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair. “Aren’t you curious what the hell she’s always doing there?”

“Of course I am,” Leigh-Anne told her and now took off her glasses, setting them down on the glass table between them. “But I don’t think she’s gonna tell us if we keep asking her. She will tell us if she considers it necessary but maybe you’re reading more into this than you should.”

For Perrie this whole conversation was completely inaudible of course, as she was sitting on the rocks next to Jade once again, watching as the grey haired girl threw her head back and laughed loudly before clasping a hand over her mouth and shaking her head.

“Don’t hide your smile,” Perrie told her and reached out, almost against her will, to grab Jade’s hand and drag it away from her mouth. For a few seconds longer than necessary her fingers were wrapped around Jade’s wrist and she couldn’t help but admire the contrast in their skin colour although Perrie had gotten a very visible tan by now. “It’s beautiful.”

“Gosh,” Jade told her and shook her head. “I wish pretty girls told me every day I was beautiful.”

Perrie giggled and couldn’t help but blush about Jade’s comment although it was more than likely that she was just returning the favour. Still, she was sort of hoping that the grey haired girl had stronger intentions than just friendship and she swallowed hard as guilt threatened to spill up once again. She knew she should be thinking about her marriage but… she just couldn’t bring herself to care enough when Jade was there in front of her, literally like the fucking sun, all smiley and adorable and as pathetic as it was, she really damn wanted to kiss the older girl.

“I wanted to ask,” Jade then asked and Perrie noticed how her eyes flickered down to her lips for a moment before looking back into her eyes, “when you and your friends are going to leave again. Most people here don’t tend to stay for very long.”

The blonde sighed heavily and leaned forward, resting her head against Jade’s shoulder. She was wrapped in a towel again so their skin contact was reduced to the touching of their cheeks and Perrie felt the urge to wrap the towel around herself as well while she straddled Jade and entangled her hands in her wet hair, pulling her in deeply for a kiss. “We’re leaving in two days. I really hope to see you again afterwards.” _But then I will be married_ , she silently added and instinctively touched the skin where she usually wore her engagement ring. She had known it was a terrible idea before she had even taken it off but she didn’t want to wear it in front of Jade and if she lost it, to hell with it, she would exchange it for a wedding ring soon anyway.

Jade took a deep breath and turned her head to the side, forcing Perrie to remove her head from Jade’s shoulder so they were able to look into each other’s eyes. They were close enough now for them to feel each other’s breath against their skin, against their lips and Perrie let her eyelids flutter. _This is it, we’re going to kiss_ , she thought to herself and leaned closer again but nothing happened so she pursed her lips together.

“Can you look at me, please?” Jade asked her and the blonde lifted her lids, her piercing blue eyes revealed. “I don’t think it’s possible for us to meet again.”

“But we can stay in contact. We can exchange phone numbers.”

The grey haired girl chuckled and shook her head. “No, I don’t have a cell phone. Never had a reason to own one before.” Once more her eyes moved to Perrie’s lips before snapping back up with a frown. “I sort of wish now I did, though.”

“What about address then? It’s old fashioned but we could write each other letters – it’s actually a bit romantic,” Perrie added with a blush on her cheeks but she couldn’t care to feel embarrassed when she saw what a cute smile it gained her from Jade.

But then the older girl sighed and shook her head sadly, “No, I’m afraid that won’t work either.”

Now Perrie was starting to feel helpless and felt how her entire body became heavier in an instant. Jade seemingly only considered this a one-week summer fling but then again Perrie couldn’t even call it a fling when nothing had happened. They had never kissed, barely touched each other. She was probably imagining things, maybe Jade had noticed that she considered her more attractive, that she was looking at her differently than friends were looking at each other. Maybe Jade didn’t want that.

“Yeah, um, okay, I get it. It’s no big deal, I mean… yeah.”

Jade frowned deeply and gripped Perrie’s wrists, holding them tightly as if to make sure she wasn’t going to disappear now. “No, you don’t get it.” With a heavy groan she dropped Perrie’s wrists and rubbed her forehead. “Okay, two days, yeah? That means we can see each other tomorrow and the day after, right?”

“Only tomorrow,” Perrie replied, her voice deflated. She didn’t know how to feel about all of this. She should be happy Jade wasn’t into her like that, it would make it a lot easier for Perrie to forget about her and move on with her life, get married soon. Yet it somehow bothered her that there was no chance for them to try and make this work somehow – she would deal with the consequences afterwards.

To think that a girl in Spain made her question her entire marriage caused her head to spin and she had to focus to be able to understand Jade asking her why they couldn’t meet the day of Perrie’s departure.

“Because we have to leave in the middle of the night to catch our plane and get back to England. I really wish I could see you one more day but… I can’t. I have to go back.”

“I wish you could stay here with me,” Jade whispered and looked down into the water. Today she was wearing a bikini top and at first Perrie had wondered if she was only wearing it because Perrie kept wearing it. She was sitting on her legs, a towel wrapped around her once more. She didn’t like exposing her legs, she’d told Perrie, that she had scars and markings that caused her to hide them from everyone she knew.

Perrie frowned at Jade’s words. “I’m so confused,” she admitted to her honestly. “I don’t understand what you want – you don’t want to stay in contact with me but you want me to stay with you.”

Jade looked up and her eyes were covered by shock. “I don’t want to not have contact!” She exclaimed and shook her head vigorously. “I wish we could keep speaking to each other every day, just like we did now. I wish I could meet your friends over there on the boat and your family and I wish you could meet my family but it’s not possible because we are from two completely different worlds and it wouldn’t work – but these past few days, these days, they were amazing and they will always be precious to me.”

“How do you know it wouldn’t work?” Perrie asked, feeling anger rise inside of her. How could Jade be so sure already that their relationship wouldn’t go anywhere, how could she be so sure that it wouldn’t work out for them? “I really damn like you and if you like me, then I don’t see what’s the problem.”

“You like me?” The grey haired girl asked and blinked heavily a few times.

Before Perrie could reply anything, Jade had reached out her hands to take a hold of Perrie’s face and caused her breath to get stuck in her throat, looking at the older female expectantly. “I have never done this before so please go easy on me,” Jade murmured and leaned forward, closing the few inches that were separating them and letting her forehead rest against Perrie’s. “I’ve wanted to try this since you first spoke to me.”

Perrie could feel Jade’s breath against her skin and it was cooler than expected but a relief in the hot Spanish summer sun, Jade’s fingers cool as well as they gripped her cheeks tightly. She felt her eyelashes flutter shut and everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as they drew closer to one another.

“Perrie!” A voice shouted and caused the blonde to jump, Jade slumping forward a little bit catching herself by putting her hands on the blonde’s shoulders and looking up at the person who was standing on the rocks behind them.

It was another woman, she noticed, her body curvier than Perrie’s and the shade of her hair much darker but still light enough to be considered brunette. “Jesy!” Perrie exclaimed at that and looked at Jade before looking back at Jesy, clearing her throat. “Um, Jesy, this is Jade. Jade, this is my friend Jesy.”

Unable to form a word Jade just nodded her head and smiled sheepishly while Jesy pressed her lips together and then turned her attention back to her blonde friend. “You didn’t hear me shout for you so I had to swim over. I didn’t know you were in company.”

“Yeah, um. Um, okay. Uh, Jade, I’ll see you, um, later, yeah?” Perrie stuttered and got up, leaving Jade to sit there on her own. Then she walked over to where Jesy was and took another glance back before the two of them sat down on the rocks on the other side before sliding into the water carefully and swimming back quietly.

When they arrived on deck Leigh handed both of them a towel and frowned at how quiet both of them were but decided not to say anything and wait for something to happen first. She didn’t like intervening and had known that Perrie wouldn’t like it if Jesy went around snooping but she had been too curious herself to actually stop her.

“Where is your engagement ring?” Jesy asked and Perrie’s cheeks turned a few shades darker before she quickly hid her face by pretending she was drying it with the towel.

“It’s in my bag, in the bedroom,” she answered honestly and looked down at the floor.

“Are you going to tell him?”

Perrie frowned and replied hotly, “Nothing happened, okay? And nothing will happen.”

“Perrie, I want you to be happy,” Jesy replied and the warmth surprised the blonde. She had expected her to shout and tell her how wrong it was to kiss another person when she was about to get married in less than a week. “I want you to be with whoever makes you happy but I don’t want you to become a cheater. We live in a world where we have to choose and he chose you so either choose him with all you got or you don’t choose him. It’s not fair.”

“I know,” the younger female sighed and ran a hand over her face. She somehow wished they didn’t have to have this talk but maybe it was better that way. “I just – I don’t think I will ever see her again after this anyway. I’m so confused and you know how much I was looking forward to getting married but now it’s all… I don’t know.”

“You’re not ready to get married if you ‘don’t know’,” Leigh butted in, her arms crossed over her chest and her brows furrowed. “You know we support you with whatever decision you make but we want you to be a hundred per cent sure you know what you’re doing. Marriage is a huge commitment but throwing away a wedding is, too.”

Perrie nodded and sighed, feeling too overwhelmed now that she was forced to talk about her feelings for Jade so freely. She hadn’t even admitted it to herself yet that it was such an intense desire, that her body was aching now that she had missed a kiss; they had been so close to it, she could still remember the way she smelled, she could still feel her breath against her lips but she wished she felt Jade’s actual lips against hers now. “I will talk to her tonight. Tonight and then tomorrow is the last day here, really, so we will talk over it and I’ll come to a decision. It’s just – everything is so confusing suddenly.”

“Okay,” Jesy said and smiled before reaching out to hug her and soon Leigh-Anne wrapped her arms around her two friends as well, engulfing them into a group hug. “Remember we love and support you, whatever your decision is.”

***

“Did I get you in trouble?” Jade asked timidly once Perrie sat down on the stones. The grey haired girl was in front of her, her arms on the flat material and everything below her shoulders under water again.

“No,” Perrie smiled kindly and instinctively reached out to touch Jade’s arm. She moved her fingers up to her hands and saw as Jade watched her fingers as they entwined with her own. She didn’t complain but when she looked up, she was confused for a moment.

“I’m sorry I almost kissed you.”

“You should only apologise for the almost,” Perrie told her and looked down at their hands. She wouldn’t mind if they stayed like this forever. “I wish it had happened.”

“Is it – do you think it is too late now?”

Perrie was quiet for a moment and licked her lips, wondering if it was. If it wasn’t for Jesy, she wouldn’t feel so guilty about all of this even though she knew she should feel guilty. She obviously had feelings for Jade – or at least she felt attraction towards her, which would made this whole thing easier because that could be forgotten about so much easier than feelings. “I don’t know,” she replied honestly and shrugged. “It’s all a bit difficult for me.”

“Me too,” Jade told her and sighed. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

“Me neither,” Perrie interrupted her before she could go on. The blonde could see she was about to reveal what she had been hiding from her but Perrie had come up with an idea. “Let’s tell each other tomorrow night, okay? I’ll tell you what I was hiding from you and you can tell me your secret. And tonight and tomorrow morning we will just enjoy ourselves like the past few days as if there was nothing in the world except for you, me, the sea and these rocks.”

Jade smiled relieved and nodded her head, “That sounds like a good plan to me. It’s great.”

“Well, if that’s the case – I think we should try again.”

Jade giggled and heaved herself up until her hips were out of the water and Perrie leaned forward, her hand disappearing into Jade’s damp hair and pulling her face forward while pushing herself forward as well until their lips connected.

Perrie noticed how cold Jade was from being in the water when the sun was down already and her lips tasted salty from the sea but they were still so incredibly soft against hers. She forgot how to breathe in those few moments where they stayed like this, Jade using all the force in her arms to hold herself upright and Perrie trying her hardest not to fall forward.

She was about to pull back, thinking it must be difficult for the older girl to stay in this position when Jade licked against her bottom lip and a fire was set ablaze in Perrie’s chest, her hand in Jade’s hair tugging slightly too hard and causing Jade’s lips to slip open and let out a moan that was muffled by Perrie’s lips against hers.

The blonde pressed her lips harder against Jade’s now and flicked her tongue out, between Jade’s opened lips and once more Perrie was met with the taste of sea salt, yet she didn’t find it to be unpleasant. Somehow it made this entire thing feel so much more unreal, so much like a dream.

Jade’s arms started shaking and Perrie pulled back now, her hand still entangled in Jade’s hair as the grey haired girl slowly let her body sink back into the water, her eyes still closed and the hint of a smile playing around her swollen lips.

“That was amazing for a first kiss.”

Jade blushed and the way she looked in this moment, her mouth pink and luscious, the lips still pulsating from the pressure they had felt against them, her cheeks red and bright and on top of all, her eyes, framed by long and wet lashes, the pupils wider than Perrie had ever seen them in these past few days and her iris seemingly more green than brown now.

“I really wish I had done this earlier.”

The blonde shifted her body so she was lying on the stones now, her face on the same level as Jade and grinned excitedly, the butterflies in her stomach making her feel like she was a high school girl again and in love for the first time. “I guess we got a lot of making up to do, then. For lost time, you know.”

Jade giggled as well and pushed her head forward, reconnecting their lips for only a mere second but it was enough to ignite the fire within Perrie again and she reached out to pull Jade’s face back towards her and deepen the kiss once more, hunger and lust causing her to thrive for it.

“Let’s stay here for the night,” she suggested, her eyes still closed and their foreheads touching. “Let’s just sleep here on these stones and then after tomorrow morning we will stay with our friends and family again for a few hours and then tell each other whatever it is in the night.”

“Okay,” Jade breathed out and sighed happily against Perrie’s skin. She was more comfortable about kissing now that she had done it twice and now that the blonde showed obvious need and interest in it as well. Motivated by her courage she kissed Perrie once more before she reached out for the towel.

Perrie leaned back and stared up at the stars above them as Jade pushed herself out of the water and covered herself in the towel, drying herself and shivering lightly. It wasn’t cold really but it would be a lie on either of their behalf if they claimed they were feeling warm either.

Jade lay down on the stone and Perrie put her head on her chest, letting Jade wrap her in a second towel to ensure both of them felt relatively warm.

Perrie thought she hadn’t slept as well as this night in a long time.

***

 Jade was the first to wake up the next morning and when Perrie finally opened her eyes, she was already back in the water and the blonde couldn’t help but smile. Her mother had always told her she spent too much time in the water but apparently there was someone even worse than her.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Jade said with a giggle and raised her eyebrows. “You slept longer than any of the past days. The sun rose hours ago.”

“God, really?” Perrie muttered and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Thankfully she never wore any makeup – it made her wonder when was the last time she hadn’t worn makeup in front of her fiancé, as she always tended to disappear into the bathroom as soon as she woke up in the morning. “Jesy and Leigh must be worried sick.” She looked back at the boat, where Jesy and Leigh were sitting on deck and ate what must be their breakfast.

“Jesy shouted for you earlier and sounded very worried so I swam over and told her you fell asleep on the stones. She told me to let you sleep but let her know if you needed anything.”

Feeling a blush creep up on her cheeks she looked away from her two friends, who had their attention turned away from them. The boat was still quite far away so they probably couldn’t see much of what was going on here – since Perrie could barely make them out on the boat too – but she still felt somewhat nervous about being so close to Jade in the middle of the day when it was so bright and her friends were sitting not that far away from them.

“I wish we had another chance of this,” Jade told her. “Sleeping together and waking up next to you. It was… it was nice. Sorry if it’s awkward, I mean, we haven’t known each other for that long but. It was nice.”

“It was,” Perrie assured her and smiled kindly but her stomach turned slightly before she leaned down and kissed her once more. She excused herself and swam back to the boat where Jesy and Leigh offered her some food, which she accepted with a polite smile.

Her thoughts were racing, though – how on earth was she going to tell Jade that she was supposed to get married in two days?

***

“Hey there,” Perrie greeted Jade in the water and wrapped her arms around her stomach, pulling her in unexpectedly and kissing her with so much passion that she felt like the oxygen in her own lungs was evaporating. She knew that this could be their last kiss, how hurt Jade was going to be once she found out.

But Jade seemed just as scared, just as desperate as her hands snuck around Perrie’s skull, resting against her scalp and massaging into the skin softly as her teeth grazed against Perrie’s lips,  drawing a guttural moan from the blonde.

The intense desire to have Jade touch her all over body was filling her up and somehow Jade must have read her mind as one of her hands slowly wandered down her side under the water until it reached the curve of her bum and she gave it a light squeeze, causing Perrie to arch into her and keen but Jade then pushed their bodies apart, breathing heavily.

“I guess we both have something to get off our chests,” she muttered breathlessly and looked up at the star dotted sky for a moment. “Who shall go first?”

“I will,” Perrie sighed reluctantly and took a breath. She had prepared so many things, had gone over so many scenarios during the day of what she could do or say to make all of this more bearable for Jade. Whatever it was that the grey haired girl had to tell her, she couldn’t imagine it being as bad unless Jade was engaged as well. Now, though, she was trying to remember anything she had thought of but her brain was completely blank, failing her when she probably needed it the most.

“Okay, um…” She started nervously and looked down at her fidgeting hands. “The thing is, as much as I enjoyed the past few days with you and as much as I wish we could continue like this, I’m afraid it wasn’t quite fair of me. I kept a secret from you but I know if I had told you from the beginning that this – our kisses and these feelings – none of it would have happened if I’d told you straight away.” Another deep breath as she tried to calm herself down and she told herself that there was no reason for her to be upset yet, Jade hadn’t heard the whole story yet and she hadn’t run – or rather, swum – away. “I hid my ring from you, afraid I couldn’t experience these things if you knew – if you knew I was engaged to someone. If you knew that I had already promised and sworn someone else my undying love you might not have tried to kiss me.”

“You – you’re in love with someone else?” Jade asked and Perrie could hear the tears in her voice.

“I – I don’t know anymore. I thought I was but… you made me so confused. I don’t know if I can marry him anymore, I don’t know if I love him as much as I thought I did.”

“Perrie – I…”

“It’s okay,” the blonde said. “You don’t have to say anything. I know it wasn’t fair of me – I shouldn’t have put you through this.”

The grey haired girl sucked in her lips and frowned. Her expression was unreadable for Perrie to read and she did wish Jade would say anything but she wouldn’t hold it against her if she didn’t and just left her here now. “Before we discuss it, let me tell you what I hid from you. Or rather let me show you.”

Taking a deep breath similar to what Perrie had done to mentally prepare herself, she turned her back to the stones and wrapped her fingers around them, pushing her arms down and straightening her elbows to push herself out of the water.

She wasn’t wearing a bikini top anymore now and Perrie watched in awe as her bare breasts surfaced, wet and shiny in the dim moon light. She wished she could touch them but knew it was not the appropriate time. Instead she kept gazing at her skin as she revealed more and more of her body, her toned stomach and her bully button, a small hole.

Then what should have been her hips appeared but they were covered by a material unknown to Perrie in a beautiful emerald shade, shimmering brighter than anything Perrie had ever seen – the material wasn’t light but it reflected the moonlight more than anything else could and the blonde frowned as the material seemed to go on and on, covering all of her legs until it came to an end and spread out to both sides.

It took Perrie a few moments to recognise the end as a fishtail and then she looked at Jade, sitting at the edge of the boulders and looking back at Perrie, a mixture of expectancy and fear prominent on her face.

“You – what?” Was all the blonde managed to get out as she kept staring at the green material, sparkling and covering what was supposed to be legs. But it simply couldn’t be, this must be some kind of joke on Jade’s behalf but the transition from smooth stomach skin to shiny fish tail was completely seem-less and there was no way this was some sort of costume.

“I am, what humans like to call, a siren,” Jade explained and moved her hands around herself. “I didn’t know how to tell you and we’re supposed to hide from you – but I thought if I pretend to be a human myself it would be okay. I was curious, you were the first human I ever met and I was so intrigued to find out more about your species. I thought you would be so different from us because we don’t interact but you were so kind and sweet, something I wasn’t expecting. You weren’t at all like the horrendous fishermen we were told about, who would try and catch us and drag us away from the sea.”

“Are you kidding me?” Perrie asked in shock. She simply couldn’t believe that Jade was an actual fricking _mermaid_. Like, those didn’t even exist like _what_!?

“I wish I wasn’t – I wish I could be a human so I could have a cell phone or an address to give you so we could write each other, maybe see each other again. So I could kiss you without having to worry about whether or not you’d feel disgusted once you found out.”

Perrie pushed herself out of the water as quickly as she could and scurried over to where Jade was sitting, putting her hands on either side of Jade’s face. “Never. I’d never feel disgusted by you – I… I never thought this could happen, I never thought mermaids were a real thing but this, this is… just, wow.”

“You think it’s a good thing? That I am a siren?”

Perrie shrugged but there was a smile playing around her lips. “I don’t know whether it’s good or bad.” She leaned back and took a deep breath. “I don’t care what you are – you could be half gorilla, half human or a goat and I’d still love the way you smile and laugh when I’m around. I’m just wondering how you feel about me now that you know I am engaged.”

Jade frowned and pursed her lips, considering. “I think that it doesn’t matter. Like you said, out here it’s just the two of us, some stones and the sea.”

“The sea…” Perrie wondered. “I want to see where you live.”

Jade looked surprised and then smiled, nodding her head. “Before we go, can I have another kiss from you?” She asked and leaned forward, hoping Perrie would meet her halfway.

The blonde complied excitedly, relieved that Jade took her confession so easily. She knew now that she couldn’t marry anymore, that she didn’t want to marry anymore but that was okay – it wasn’t fair towards her fiancé if she pretended now that she was in love with him if the only person that was clouding her mind now was Jade.

Both of them got into the water again and Jade wrapped her arms around Perrie tightly, Perrie’s nails scratching against Jade’s back as she reciprocated the kiss hungrily, her tongue licking against Jade’s salty lips. Now it all made sense, why she had hidden her lower half all the time, why she was so cool and why she tasted like the sea.

“Come, let’s go now,” Jade said as she pulled back and grabbed both of Perrie’s wrists tightly. “Take a deep breath now and –” Less than a second later Jade was using her tail to swim downwards quicker than any human possibly could, leading Perrie to where she lived.

Perrie had made many wrong assumptions while being with Jade; how she had assumed she wore makeup but it was her inhuman beauty that gave her such long lashes. How she had assumed that Jade wouldn’t come back to the rocks. How she had assumed Jade didn’t know her own age and how she had assumed Jade was only interested in friendship more than once.

But the most carefree assumption she had made was that Jade was a simple mermaid, for sirens were a lot more beautiful and dangerous than any girl in a fishtail costume could ever be - the realisation of her mistake came too late, though. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for taking your time to read this, I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! Lately I've been lacking serious motivation to write but the femslash challenges make me want to get my lazy ass to work and actually do something about all the words and ideas stuck in my brain. I really wanted to write something mystical in a long time but I never really knew what but then this idea came to my head.   
> I'm wondering if I was too obvious about Jade at some points? I tried not to be but I guess I really was sometimes. Either way, whether you saw it coming or not, I hope you liked the story!


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